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^^^no, only a sticker at the back, that falls off or becomes unreadable in time. E46 motors are horrible for identification, it could be a 323 in a 330 and you would never know.

Sure you'd know. Ms42 vs Ms43, DBC vs DBW, TB size and so on.

Back to OP, if you drive that car to my house , I'll tell you which engine and which trans it has and whether its original or came from india within 10 minutes. Im not prepared to give such information for free.

Back to OP, if you drive that car to my house , I'll tell you which engine and which trans it has and whether its original or came from india within 10 minutes. Im not prepared to give such information for free.

And all of those are things that will get swapped between motors, so at the end it will look 100% the same! Trust me I have looked at both motors fully stripped side by side, and they even have the same part #s!

Well , I've seen both stripped as well and I think if one were to go through the hassle of swapping everything from a B30 onto a TUB25 just to hide the fact that it was a TUB25, Id give him a medal or carve a sculpture in him name . BUt I'd still be able to tell what it really is

Sure the blocks are the same(the blocks are the same thought the whole E46 family apart from S54) but you can tell a different between engines even if you;re stripped down(well , as long as they're not stripped down to a bare block, lol), all you need is experience.

Actually it is, as they are the same, its the pistons/cranck/rods/camshafts that make the engine what it is. Sooo a 325/328/330 head casting will be the same for all models...no matter what...With the exception of the 320, that is specific. Do some research with the parts numbers, you would be surprised how much you can find out!

Well , I've seen both stripped as well and I think if one were to go through the hassle of swapping everything from a B30 onto a TUB25 just to hide the fact that it was a TUB25, Id give him a medal or carve a sculpture in him name . BUt I'd still be able to tell what it really is

$$$$ can make people do a lot of things, seen it more then once. If they can buy a 325 engine for $500, and not spend $2000 for the propler 3.0, they will do it. Just to sell the car to unsuspected buyers.

Actually it is, as they are the same, its the pistons/cranck/rods/camshafts that make the engine what it is. Sooo a 325/328/330 head casting will be the same for all models...no matter what...With the exception of the 320, that is specific. Do some research with the parts numbers, you would be surprised how much you can find out!

I know all of that and some more, no need for research . But thank you anyway.

I've only seen people try to make a TUB look like a B30 motor, and they could've fooled a noob with it, but they couldnt fool me.

Like I said , there are ways to tell the difference between a TUB25 and a B25/B30, even if the engine is stripped down. Even if there is no valve cover and all you have is a block and the head, there are ways to tell the difference. And in the case of OP, its a matter of 2 minutes and then add another 8 minutes to tell when it was built and if it was in fact original.

There are a tonne of differences between TUB25 and a B25/B30. Some , I already mentioned previously , others are injectors, fuel rail, and many many other various small pieces. You can determine by looking at those(you'd have to know what you;re looking for first). If one were to have a TUB25 with a swapped B30 intake manifold and all its components, B30 cats, B30 sensors , MAF and Intake .... You can still find out that its a TUB25 simply by looking up the OBD Values . INpa is a very good software to do so. Obviously you;d have to know what to compare them to otherwise you'd be looking at a bunch of numbers not knowing whats going on. Look at Vanos values, lambda , camshaft and general adaptations. You cant hide nothing, a TUB25 wont run the way it should(proper) with B30 injection system and B30 intake mani. Ms43 ECU might not like(not 100% sure) some of the Ms42 specific sensors and if thats the case, INPA will tell you all that

BUT , if you said someone had stripped one down, meaning no intake mani , no exhaust mani , no crank damper, and all you have is a block with the head attached to it all you need to do is look at the in take cam . B30 has a specific B30 intake cam , all others ,320,323,325,328 share same intake cams . ONly look at the intake cam as exhaust cams are shared thought the whole E46 6 cyl engines apart from M3 and ZHP .

And if one were to go as far as swapping the cams too, well then only thing left is to bust open the head and check the piston clearance , or if you want a quick check then take out your most powerful flash light and look down the spark plug hole after you take the plug out and look at the piston top. B30 has a Unique piston top that sets it apart from TUB25/28 and B22/25 .

You CAN tell the difference , you just need to know what to look for and be prepared to look further.

Now, if the owner changed ALL of that just to hide the TUB ,then I would carve a statue in his name out of solid marble and display it at my friends next gallery.